Flower pick



Oct. 25, 1949. A. BRUTOCAO ET AL FLOWER PICK Filed Dec. 7, 1944 A.Dru'rocao L. Drutocao L.brur ocuo Patented Oct. 25, 1949 FLOWER PICKAngelo Brutocao, Louis Brutocao, and Leonard Brutocao, Toronto, Ontario,Canada Application December 7, 1944, Serial No. 567,097

8 Claims.

This invention relates to flower picks.

In the florist business the use of stiff picks for setting up variousfloral arrangements is a conmon practice which facilitates work of thiskind. Up to the present time two general types of picks have been known.A wooden pick used in conjunction with a length of wire which isfastened to the floral pieces by winding the wire. A more recent type ofconstruction is a metal pick which may be channelled for strength andwhich includes projecting tabs that can be clinched over the stems,etc., of the flowers. This latter type of construction however requiredthe use of a special instrument for clinching purposes in order toobtain substantial grip on the stems.

Both of these structures have obvious disadvantages. In the first casethe winding of wire constitutes a substantial amount of work andtherefore the process is slow. In the second case the necessity forusing a machine to effect clinching requires a specialized operationwhile it is also necessarily slow because of the fact that theinstrument has to be employed each time. The present invention clearlyavoids the disadvantages of the prior art and provides a simple flowerpick which in use will have all the advantages of these otherstructures. It is therefore an object of the present invention toprovide a simple metal flower pick which may be quickly applied to stemsand the like of flowers and will secure them in firm gripping engagementmerely by simple use of the thumb and fingers of the user.

A further object of the invention is to provide a pick of this kindwhich is particularly simple in construction and which therefore can bemanufactured at a comparatively low cost.

A further object of the invention is to provide a pick of this kindwhich when attached to the stems of flowers and the like will provide asubstantial reinforcement.

With these and other objects in view, the invention generally comprisesa pick formed from a short length of sheet metal channelled for strengthto form a shank and having adjacent its upper end an integral strip ofmetal projecting laterally on each side of the shank and at an inclineto the vertical axis of the shank, the said strip preferably including atoothed portion and being capable of spiral winding around the stem offlowers and the like.

The invention will be more clearly understood by reference to thefollowing detailed specification taken in conjunction with theaccompanying drawings.

Fig. 1 is a pictorial illustration of a short stemmed flower with a pickof the present invention attached thereto.

Fig. 2 is an enlarged partial perspective illustration of the flowerpick.

Fig. 3 is an enlarged longitudinal section taken substantially along theline 3-3 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 4 is an enlarged transverse section taken substantially along theline 4-4 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 5 is a transverse section taken through an alternative form ofbinding strip to show the use of teeth along the upper edge instead ofthe lower edge as shown in Fig. 2.

Figs. 6 and '7 represent transverse sections taken through picks toillustrate a varied channelled formation that may be used.

Referring to the drawings A indicates the flower pick as a whole whichis preferably produced from metal, and formed with a shank it which ispreferably of thin metal channelled for reinforcing purposes. This maybe channelled in any suitable way and may have a channel formation suchas shown in Figs. 6 and 7. The lower end of the shank is generallypointed as at l I while the upper end has integrally attached thereto astrip of metal l2 which is disposed at an incline to the longitudinalaxis of the shank Ill. The strip i2 is preferably toothed as indicatedat l3 having a toothed portion offset from the plane of the strip l2 soas to project at a suitable angle thereto. The teeth preferably projectfrom the lower edge of the strip l2 but may be formed to project fromthe upper edge thereof such as shown in Fig. 5 and may also project atright angles to strip [2 if desired.

The strip I2 projects on each side of the shank I!) in the arms [4 andI5, the arm l5 preferably being shorter than the arm it although the arm[5 might, if desired, be of substantially the same length.

The pick thus formed provides a readily handled article which does notrequire any special mechanism or the like to apply it. It is onlynecessary for instance to dispose a stem of a flower or the like [6along the channelled portion of the shank l0 and by twisting the bindingstrip l2 around the stem, the strip spirals around the stem both aboveand below the point of attachment of this strip to the shank l0 and dueto the natural spiraling of this strip it will be readily turned intofirm engagement with the stem wherein the toothed portions act as agripping means preventing axial movement of the pick relatively to thestem ill and firmly holding the pick to the stem. Moreover, it should benoted that the stem is firmly held both above and below the upperextremities of the pick.

Consequently it will be understood that by merely applying a pick to astem and quickly twisting the arms l4 and 15 of the strip l2 the pick isquickly and firmly attached and the strip assumes a spiral formationimmediately upon twisting due to its inclination to the longitudinalaxis of the pick.

What we claim as our invention is:

1. In a flower pick of the class having a shank adapted to align withand embrace the stem of a flower; a binding strip connected to saidshank adjacent one of its extremities, the longitudinal axis of saidbinding strip extending at an incline to the longitudinal axis of saidshank and being windable to spirally surround the stem of a floweraligned with said shank and firmly retain it in fixed relation thereto.

2. In a flower pick of the class having a shank adapted to align withand embrace the stem of a flower; a binding strip integrally connectedto said shank adjacent one of its extremities, the longitudinal axis ofsaid binding strip extending at an incline to the longitudinal axis ofsaid shank and being windable to spirally surround the stem of a floweraligned with said shank and retain it in flxed relation thereto, saidbinding strip having stem engaging means projecting therefrom designedto engage in the stem of a flower when said strip is wound around saidstem.

3. In a flower pick of the class having a shank adapted to align withand embrace the stem of a flower; a binding strip integrally connectedto said shank adjacent one of its extremities, the longitudinal axis ofsaid binding strip extending at an incline to the longitudinal axis ofsaid shank and being windable to spirally surround the stem of a floweraligned with said shank and firmly retain it in fixed relation thereto,said binding strip having a plurality of teeth extending from at leastone longitudinal edge thereof designed to extend into the stem of aflower when said strip is wound around said stem.

4. In a flower pick of the class having a shank adapted to align withand embrace the stem of a flower; a binding strip connected to saidshank at one of its extremities, the longitudinal axis of said bindingstrip extending at an incline to the longitudinal axis of said shank andbeing windable to spirally surround the stem of a flower aligned with.said shank and retain it in fixed relation thereto.

5. In a flower pick of the class having a shank adapted to align withand embrace the stem of a flower; a binding strip connected to saidshank at one of its extremities, the longitudinal axis of said bindingstrip ex ending at an incline to the longitudinal axis or" said shankand being windable to spirally surround the stem of a flower alignedwith said shank and retain it in fixed relation thereto, said bindingstrip having a plurality of teeth extending from at least onelongitudinal edge thereof designed to extend into the stem of a flowerwhen said strip is wound around said stem.

6. In a flower pick of the class having a shank adapted to align withand embrace the stem of a flower; a binding strip connected to saidshank at one of its extremities, the longitudinal axis of said bindingstrip extending at an incline to the longitudinal axis of said shank andbeing windable to spirally surround the stem of a flower aligned withsaid shank and retain it in fixed relation thereto, said binding stripextending on either side of said shank, one portion of said bindingstrip being adapted to extend from one side of said shank beyond the endof said shank adjacent to which said strip is connected, said abovementioned portion being longer than the remaining portion of saidbinding strip that extends from the opposite side of said shank.

'7. In a flower pick of the class having a shank adapted to align withand embrace the stem of a flower; a binding strip integrally connectedto said shank adjacent one of its extremities, the longitudinal axis ofsaid binding strip extending at an incline to the longitudinal axis ofsaid shank and being windable to spirally surround the stem of a floweraligned with said shank and retain it in fixed relation thereto, said.binding strip extending on either side of said shank, one portion ofsaid binding strip being adapted to extend from one side of said shankbeyond the end of said shank adjacent to which said strip is connected,said above mentioned portion being longer than the remaining portion ofsaid bind ing strip that extendsdrom the opposite side of said shank,said binding strip having a plurality of teeth extending from at leastone longitudinal edge thereof designed to extend into the stem of aflower when said strip is wound around said stem.

8. In a flower pick of the class having a shank adapted to align withand embrace the stem of a flower; a binding strip connected to saidshank at one of its extremities, the longitudinal axis of said bindingstrip extending at an incline to the longitudinal axis of said shank andbeing windable to spirally surround the stem of a flower aligned withsaid shank and retain it in fixed relation thereto, said inclinedbinding strip extending on either side of said shank, one portion ofsaid binding strip being adapted to extend from a side of said shankbeyond the end of said shank to which said strip is connected, saidabove mentioned portion being longer than the remaining portion of saidbinding strip that extends from the opposite side of said shank.

ANGELO IBRUTOCAO. LOUIS BRUTOCAO. LEONARD BRUTOCAO.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 391,050 I-Iiller Oct. 16, 1888500,469 Burbank June 27, 1893 1,990,407 Kamrass Feb. 5, 1935 2,2i9,567Reichelt July 15, 1941 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 759,897France Dec. 6, 1933

